Apparatus for spreading surfacing materials



April 3, 1957 c. G. LINDGREN 2,789,485

APPARATUS FOR SPREADING SURFACING MATERIALS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 20. 1952 Q\ INVENTOR.

CARL GUNNAR LINDGREN BY v April 23, 1957 c. G. LINDGREN APPARATUS FOR SPREADING SURFACING MATERIALS Filed Feb. 29. 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

CARL GUNNAR LINDGREN Arm/swim United States Patent APPARATUS FOR SPREADING MATERIALS Carl Gunnar Lindgren, Ljungby, Sweden, assignor to Vibro-Plus Corporation, Woodside, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application February 20, 1952, Serial No. 272,648

3 Claims. or. 94-46) been used to some extent but these spreaders suffer from the disadvantage that the hoppers must be filled from appreciably above the ground level in order that there may be suflicient static pressure to produce satisfactory spreading of the concrete as the hopper is moved. Some intermediate conveyor must be utilized to fill I the hop- 1 per of the concrete spreader or the concrete carrying truck must be driven onto a platform above the surrounding ground level to gain the necessary height above the area to be surfaced. Both these expedients are troublesome and expensive and have severally limited the utility of concrete spreading hoppers.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide an arrangement associated with a surfacing material spreading hopper to simplify the filling of the same.

According to one aspect of the invention, this object is attained by rendering the hopper of a surfacing materials sperader tiltable from an upright, emptying position to an inclined, filling position. This permits surfacing materials to be conveniently discharged into the hopper in a heap lying on a substantially horizontal side. The hopper may then be returned to its upright position, whereupon the contents flow out of a discharge opening under the action of adequate static pressure.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, it will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of apparatus employing a tiltable hopper for spreading surfacing materials,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is an elevation view of the apparatus showing the hopper in filling position.

Referring now to the drawings, a surfacing materials spreading apparatus is shown comprising a generally rectangular carriage 11 formed with parallel side members 12 and 13 which are connected near a material-receiving end 14 by transversebeams 15 and 16 and near the opposite end 17 by a transverse beam 18. The carriage 11 is supported by pairs of wheels 19, 21 and 22, 23 for movement along tracks 24 and 25 respectively, lying perpendicularly to the side members 12 and 13 and defining the side boundaries of an area 26 to be covered by surfacing material 27.

The carriage 11 supports a hopper 28 which has vertical sides 29 and 31 parallel to and between the side members 12 and 13 of the carriage and sloping sides 32 the level of the tracks 24 and 25. The wheels 35, 36

and 37, 38 roll on inner and outer guideways 39 and 41, respectively, carried by the side members 12 and 13 and permit movement of the hopper 28 towards and away from the ends of the carriage 11, that is, at a right angle to the direction of movement of the carriage 11 along the tracks 24 and 25.

The guideways 39 and 41 are parallel in the vertical plane until near the material-receiving end 14 of the carriage l'lwhere they diverge, the inner guideways 39 sloping downwardly and the outer guideways 41 curving upwardly. The guideways 39 end at a point close to the ground for the purpose of bringing front wheels 35 and 36 of the hopper 28 as near ground level as possible. The hopper 28, upon being propelled towards the material-receiving end 14 of the carriage 11, is progressively tilted by the action of the guideways 39 and 41 about a horizontal axis parallel to the end 14 and perpendicular to its own direction of movement until it assumes a sloping filling posit-ion, as shown in Fig. 3. In the filling position the side 32 of the hopper 28 is substantially horizontal, only slightly above the level of the area 26 to be covered, and off to one side of such area. Accordingly, the hopper 28' can be filled by merely tipping from a truck standing on the ground level. The side 32 of the hopper 28 is preferably longer than the opposite side 33 in order to accommodate concrete orother surfacing material in a pile and to permit a truck to be driven, if desired, into the load-receiving opening of the hopper. When the hopper 28 is again rolled over the area 26, it resumes its upright emptying position andthe surfacing material 27 pours from the discharge opening 34 as it progresses across the width of the area 26.

Movement may be imparted to the hopper 28 by a motor 42 which operates through a gear box 43 having a clutch and reversing control lever 44. The gear box 43 is coupled by means of sprockets 45 and 46 and connecting chain 47 to a shaft 48 on which is keyed a driving sprocket 49. An endless chain 51 is stretched between the sprocket 49 and an idler sprocket 52 mounted at the other end of the carriage 11. A link 53 having one end pivotally connected to a point on the chain 51 and the other end pivotally connected to the side 29 of the hopper 28 completes the drive mechanism. It is to be understood that a second chain and link may be employed on the opposite side 31 of the hopper 28 in order to provide a balanced propulsive force.

When electric power is available the wheels 37, 38 may be driven directly by a motor and the endless chain 51 and the link 53 dispensed with. With this arrangement the wheels 37, 38 would be provided with teeth and the outer guideways 41 formed as a rack.

In order that the weight of the hopper 28 in its filling position does not place an uneven load on the wheels 35, 36 and 37, 38, a load-relieving girder 554 may be placed under the horizontal side 32 of the hopper 28 or shock absorbers may be permanently attached to the side 32.

Rough leveling is provided by a leveling board 55, which is fastened in an adjustable vertical position to the side 32 of the hopper 28.

The wheels 19, 21 and 22, 23 supporting the carriage 11 are illustrated as having flanges in order that they may be guided by the tracks 24 and 25, respectively. -It may, of course, in some cases be preferable to provide rubber-tired wheels where the carriage 11 is intended to roll on the ground. The tracks 24 and 25, however, are

3 99%?99199? $119? Lthey; proyide reference edges forthe final leveling and surface finishing operations. The wheels 19,21 and 22, 23 are mountedon axles having appreciable length in order. that the spacing between the .whee a d t e-w ee s .mayibezta ter ds =,a commodatedifierent track-widths.

,Jl i to.- be n e t o if t roun ,con ition are; of ,such; nature :thata truck cannothe drivento the hopper without a special-ramp-orwhen.materialspreadring takes place. above the normal ground ;.level,; -the li f cess y a i ldinazdo s ot det c o the advantages; of the present invention. In orderto avoid the .nianual shifting of planking in the formercase eachtime thesprea der is moved, the hopper may, of: course, ,be fitted with a suitable extension which will -serve.as aramp ifo th ru v 1,, Apparatus for .spreadipgnurface materials comprisingacarriage'movable alongan area to be surfaced, guideway means on said carriageincluding at least two pairs of substantially. horizontal guideways extending across said carriage, the respective pairs being laterally spaced apart to definean open space therebetween and the respective guideways of each pairbeing laterally 01fset, an open-ended hopper having one side formed longer than'its opposite side, said hopper including at least two pairsof wheel means engagingthe respectiveguideways and carrying the hopper in an upright emptying position on said carriage for spreading material.across the area through said open space, respective pairsof said wheel means being spaced apart in thedirection of movement of the hopper acrossthe'carriage, means for. tiltingthehopper to an inclined filling position atone side of the carriage to dispose said longer side horizontally for loading .said surface materials, said tilting means including a downwardly inclined section forone guide- .wayof each pair of guideways engaged by the 'pair'of said-wheel means nearest said one filling side of the carriage, said tilting means also including an upwardly inclined section for the other guideway of each pair'of 'guideways engaged by the other pair of wheel means, t d w wa d an u war ind nat of aiiseqti a toned tothe chain means, and means for driving :the

chain means in either direction to pull the hopper to and fro on the carriage in its upright emptying position and to pull the hopper alongsaid inclined sections for tilting it to and righting it from the inclined filling position.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein means are provided to engage the lowest side of the hopper when it is inits inclined filling position to relieve the load on the wheel means.

3.;Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein a leveling member is. attached to the hopperadjacent the'discharge openingon the side of the hopper nearest the filling side of the'carriage for roughly leveling the dischargematerial.

References Cited in the file of;this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,084,438 -Hulett Jan. 13, 1914 1,404,747 Faber Janp31, 1922 1,724,043 Robb Aug. 13,1929 1,993,657 Gardiner Mar. 5, 1935 2,026,241 McCrery Dec. 31, 1935 2,035,627 West .Mar. 31, 1936 2,647,651 Vincent Aug. 4, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 293,745 Germany Aug. 26, 1916 176,200 Great Britain Mar. 9, 1922 

